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Jul 8, 2021
Ex-Arm is arguably one of the worst creations ever unveiled upon the human eyes with the intention of being consumed as an emotional story to be taken seriously. The CGI animation is possibly the worst style ever used in anime history combined with an incompressible plot, emotionally absent voice actors, and the worst theme song in television history.
So for me to claim a show this horrible I should be able to provide my reasoning as to why but the biggest issue is that I could not tell you what at all happened in this monstrosity of a show. From my understanding Akira Natsume, the main
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character, was struck by a car in 2014 before waking up as an Ex-Arm in the year 2030 after waking up from a ten year long coma of when he was first invented in 2020. An Ex-Arm is a kind of cybernetic AI that is powered by a human brain and can allow a human to fully operate its body through a computer as opposed to an actual human body. Akira, referred to as Alpha, was created by his brother Shuuichi Natsume and a fellow doctor who had to create Beta as a result of putting Akira into the Ex-Arm. Beta is a sort of anti-matter formation of everything that isn’t Alpha. Alpha was one of many Ex-Arms responsible for a terror attack on Japan in 2020 that caused the country to collapse into total chaos and form many mini countries and no-go zones operated by factorial tribes. After being stolen off a carrier ship by Alma and Minami Uezono, Akira begins work in his new Ex-Arm form for the remnants of the Japanese police operated by Soushi Shiga. Akira assists the department in catching a variety of different criminals leading up to the reveal of a character named Auctioneer. Auctioneer turns out to be Shuuichi, Akira’s brother, and was attempting to locate Akira to assist in defeating Beta once and for all resulting in a massive battle between Beta and Alpha that is only won when Alphau uses the power of multiple Ex-Arms to blast open Beta’s core and cause him to burn into a plasma-like fluid. It seems this is the end for Beta but it turns out that Beta survived by downloading himself into a digital form creating a world-wide computer virus that attempts to take control of the world’s nuclear warheads but is stopped by Akira who is able to disable the world’s nukes and plans to detonate them above Japan which will cause a massive EMP to wipe all the date off every Japanese computer permanently shutting down Beta for good but killing Akira in the process. Before it can be revealed what choice Akira takes the show roles to credits suggesting the creation of a second season.
Normally this paragraph would include everything done well in Ex-Arm but for that paragraph to exist a show has to be good. From the second Ex-Arm is turned on to the exact frame the final credits roll, not a single design choice is tolerable. The animation, music, characters, and story are all terrible but the one thing that saves this show from the score of one is that the show doesn’t make you want to puke, turn away, or seek a therapist. Although it is true that the show is very difficult to watch due to its story and terrible CGI there is essentially no blood, gore, incest or any other kind of weird and uncomfortable scene that one might see in Pupa or on liveleak. Although that’s a really low bar to set it is a bar none the less and Ex-Arm ever so slightly raises that bar to a two.
As for the bad? Well I can go on for hours about every detail that made this show horrible: from the inclusion of two-dimensional characters alongside CGI characters to the terribly performed English theme song, but that would simply be a waste of everyone’s time. Ex-Arm is possibly in the top three worst pieces of media in existence and should be watched by absolutely no one. To say that watching Ex-Arm is a good idea would be to say something as stupid as eating tide-pods is a good decision or that cacti have leaves. The CGI is reminiscent of the graphics of Borderlands and the voice acting is so emotionally disinterested that you can’t feel bad for any of the characters when misfortune occurs. The overall plot of the show is hard to follow, all over the place, and is extremely stretched out to reach the twelve episode mark. The show is so intolerable and hard to follow that by the end of the show I couldn’t even recall any of the characters’ names.
To keep it short, Ex-Arm is terrible. I would never recommend this show to anyone in an unironically way and although I did watch the show ironically that was even extremely painful-to this day I can still hear “HELLO HELLO” ringing in my ears. The only saving grace of this show is that watching it didn’t make me puke, cringe in disgust, or cry in horror like some shows have-Pupa. Overall this is definitely in the top three worst pieces of animated media I have consumed up to this point but if you can tolerate the PlayStation one graphics, sixth grade level writing, and terrible music then maybe you can find the diamond in the rough that I couldn’t see-or maybe Ex-Arm is simply shit.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 20, 2021
Pupa… what can one truly say on a show about literal child cannibalism in an overly sexually suggestive way making the entire relationship come off as incestrial? The show is near unwatchable and can only be taken seriously by the criminally insane: the short-lived 36 minute show, 48 with intro and credits, is one of the worst creations ever broadcasted on the internet and seems less of like something you would find on an anime streaming service and more of something you’d find on live leak.
To say that Pupa had a plot would be a bit of an understatement. It is true that the
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show follows two characters, Utsutsu Hasegawa and sister Yume Hasegawa, as they are infected with the Pupa virus, a parasite that allows them to instantly heal in exchange for craving human flesh. Yume feeds off Utsutsu’s flesh and organs to stay alive while kept in quarantine while Ai Imari, an inhumane scientist, tries to experiment on them by removing their organs and extracting their sexual fluids. After being kidnapped by Mitsui and a group of criminals the two are able to break free after Yume kills every person in the facility ending their endless experiments and allowing them to return to the real world.
This show is unbearable. This is normally where I would insert anything I found redeeming about the show, but this is the first piece of media I have ever seen in which nothing is good, let alone bearable. From the lazy art style to unfitting voice actors to overly sexual themes and terrible story the show is one of the most disturbing and cringeworthy things I have ever attempted to watch.
The only explanation I can find for why someone would create such a monstrosity is a form of sexual release of a built of fetish. The only sensible solution in my mind is that a pack of incels all gathered together in their parent’s basement to put together a short show consisting of all of their fetishes combined into one mega chain of various kinks.
No one should be subject to watch this show. It is possibly one of the worst creations released on the planet and instead of allowing anyone else to see this disaster I would recommend sticking a cigarette in your eye to permanently blind you. From exploding humans to biting organs this show is absolutely awful and I can not stress enough how little I recommend for anyone to watch this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jun 20, 2021
Hibike! Euphonium 2 is the sequel to one of the most influential music animes of all time, Hibike! Euphonium. After Kitauji High School Concert Band places gold at the regional competition the club, lead by teacher Noboru Taki puts in as much focus and dedication as possible with hopes of scoring gold at the national competition but due to increasing social divisions in the band many fear that this dream will fail to become a reality.
As previously stated, Hibike! Euphonium 2 is the sequel to the first instalment, Hibike! Euphonium, and follows the same cast from the first time around. The season begins very
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slowly by introducing Mizore Yoroizuka as the first episode’s protagonist, the clubs only oboe player, and Nozomi Kasaki as the antagonist, a flute player who dropped out the prior year after feeling the club wasn’t working hard enough. Mizore has developed a fear of being around Nozomi ever since she dropped out and didn’t tell her as she feels Nozomi abandoned her: eventually they are able to work their conflict out and become friends again after Mizore no longer feels like she has to play for Nozomi like she previously had been. With the end of Mizore’s arc the focus shifts back to Kumiko Oumae as she has to attend summer band camp. She ends up getting herself into Mizore and Nozomi’s conflict and as a result ends up learning more about her teacher, Taki’s, wife who had died a few years prior and he is still mourning over. With the end of band camp and the oboe debate settled the band sets out for the regional competition which will determine if they make it to nationals. After the credits roll it is revealed to the audience that Kitauji High School Concert Band earned gold! Upon returning home after the feeling of victory had come to an end Kumiko overheard a debate between her parents and her sister, Mumiko over dropping out of University. On top of this stress, Kumiko found out that her section leader, Asuka Tanaka, is being forced to drop out of the band by her mother. Combined with this Kumiko has fallen sick and her best friend, Reina Kousaka is becoming more and more distant from her after finding out she knew about Taki’s wife and didn’t tell her. Kumiko is invited over to Asuka’s house shortly after she recovers when she learns that her father is a famous euphonium player who she used to listen to when she first started playing. Asuka warns Kumiko she may not be returning to the band, but after scoring in the top 10 in the national mock exam her mom allows her to rejoin before the nationals. But before the nationals can occur Kumiko takes advantage of the shortened days for exams to make up with her friend, Reina, who was distancing herself up until this point. As well as making up with her friend, Kumiko is finally able to make up with her sister who tells her that while she will be moving out and dropping out of university she will be attending her concert at the nationals. By the time the big day finally came everyone was more motivated than ever to score as high as possible on this performance, but despite their months and months of work the club wasn’t able to achieve higher than bronze. Despite this Asuka was still complimented by her father, who was judging the competition, and she was able to graduate feeling satisfied with what she had accomplished: with all she had done she decided it was time to pass on her book of songs she received from her father in first grade down to Kumiko who finally was able to learn the name of the song Asuka had been playing all along - Sound! Euphonium.
Everything in Hibike! Euphonium 2 was an improvement over the original - with the exception of the title theme and credit theme. The depth of the characters was extremely emotional, and at least in my case, relatable. With Taki it is easy to feel the emotional trauma and resulting depression of losing a loved one while with Mumiko it is very easy to feel like you’re trapped in a bubble of living by other people’s rules and regretting the what could have been as for Kumiko it is also easy to be thrown into the position of looking up to an older sibling or heroic figure only to have everything fall apart at once. I can’t think of any show that is more relatable than this show and especially for someone, like myself, who is in a band. The relationships formed while taking an extracurricular as depicted in the show seem real and genuine as well as the petty drama and rumors that go around. I absolutely enjoyed this and would recommend this show to anyone, of course after they watched the first season, regardless of if they are or are not interested in music.
Although as I previously stated that this show is nearly perfect, the key word is nearly. My biggest problem is the first six episodes. The side arc following the relationship between the oboe and flute player as well as Kumiko’s experiences at the pool and the camp come off as more filler than character development as nothing of note occurs. The first six episodes are extremely forgettable and I had to go back and read the synopsis to even remember what happened. Aside from this, the main theme and ending theme are horrible in comparison to Hibike! Euphonium and while for most shows that wouldn’t really impact much a show whose main focus is music should pride themselves on their themes. My final real complaint comes from the lack of satisfaction at the end: the viewer spends all of this time watching roughly twenty six episodes only for the band to earn bronze and while I can agree the ending would be just as terrible if the band earned gold, something feels missing and it leaves the viewer feeling unsatisfied - combined with the cheesy and stereotypical reveal of the show being named after the main character’s calling song.
There are many amazing things about this show and it is very hard to pick out a large amount of flaws, but for anyone watching this show from a more critical view they will see enough flaws to make it far from perfect. While the characters, music, and animation are all excellent the story fails to progress at a proper pace in many places - sometimes events occur way too fast while other events are dragged out much longer than they need to be. As for the music, the music within each episode is amazing while the recurring music used during the introduction and credit scene are mediocre in comparison to the original. I overall would recommend this show to anyone regardless of their background in music as it provides a very insightful and realistic depiction of the bonds, struggles, and overall lives of highschoolers who dedicate themselves to an extra-circle and the overall writing is absolutely amazing and attention grabbing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 4, 2021
Hibike! Euphonium: Kakedasu Monaka is a prequel episode taking place between the auditions and final performance of Hibike! Euphonium. This episode features great music but the animation and art style seems to be lacking making this episode a combination of many things making it mediocre at best.
As previously stated, this episode takes place in between the auditions and the final performance: following the rejects from the auditions who decide to go by the name Monaka to represent their group. The episode makes a lot of references to the show such as making the good luck charms or collecting the mallets from the band room for
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the final performance. Outside of this and a bit of character development, not much happens though.
There are many great things about this episode. Although I can point out the music, much of it is just reused from Hibike! Euphonium as are the backgrounds. The reference back to the main series and filling in the gaps is a very nice feature and helps to make the world this show takes place in more built and grounded in reality.
As for the bad, there isn’t too much to criticize. The worst part was probably the animation that seems to be incredibly rushed in this episode and not really polished. On top of this the idea of an arc following side characters seems cool, but most of these characters are not at all developed during the main series making it feel more like you’re watching this episode to see more of the world of Hibike! Euphonium, not to see these unimportant characters, which to some people is a plus but to me it just seems lazy.
I didn’t really have a lot to say in comparison to my other reviews but that is because it is hard to say a lot about a twenty-five minute episode. Overall I would recommend this episode for those who are fans of Hibike! Euphonium due to its length, but those who don’t really care all too much about the world of Hibike! Euphonium and are just watching it to say they have watched it or they were recommended it and aren’t all too interested, or those who are re watching it, this episode is very skippable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 18, 2021
Hibike! Euphonium: Suisougaku-bu no Nichijou is a hilarious series of short clips that can be enjoyed by anyone in just one sitting, regardless of having watched or not watched Hibike! Euphonium. The series is extremely short, with no episode being longer than three minutes, so as a result this review will also be very short.
Usually my first paragraph would be a story summary, but Hibike! Euphonium: Suisougaku-bu no Nichijou is a seven-episode miniseries of non-episodic events, making a summary very difficult. Usually each clip follows Kumiko, Hazuki, and Sapphire with the ending being Hazuki surprised by something that Reina does, such as playing a C
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on her Trumpet. There isn’t too much to summarize but the series is less than twenty minutes in length, so it isn’t too hard to watch it in one sitting.
I rather enjoyed this short series quite a lot. The joke with Reina and the end of a few episodes made me laugh each time and I loved to get to see a small snippet into the lives of a few members of the band. The lack of an intro or end credit song is unfortunate but the music that is present is already good on its own so that slightly makes up for it. There isn’t too much else I could say on this show, in the sense of praise.
I do unfortunately have a few complaints, but nothing too bad. As I stated before, I didn’t enjoy the lack of an intro or outro but that is understandable due to the length of each episode. Besides that point, the animation was a lot less present than in the main series, which is understandable because this series was made in between episodes for the main show.
I know I didn’t have too much to say, but I really did enjoy this short series and would recommend it to anyone, even if they haven’t seen Hibike! Euphonium. The episodes are actually more like a teaser that people interested in Hibike! Euphonium might want to watch before watching the main series to see if they may want to watch the main series, but it's even good to those who already watch the main show. Overall, it is definitely worth a watch, but I wouldn’t rewatch this show anytime soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 16, 2021
Hibike! Euphonium is a near perfect work of art that depicts such great emotion, music, characters, environments, and more and brings the viewer into the show’s world. This is going to be among my most biased reviews as I have been in concert bands and/or ensembles many-a-times making this anime extremely relatable to me personally. The emotion felt by the characters from practicing in extremely hot conditions day in and day out to have all of their work pay off can be felt by anyone who has ever had that experience happen to them and overall the show is nearly perfect, of course to a
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very subjective audience.
Hibike! Euphonium follows Kumiko Oumae and her friends Hazuki Katou, and Sapphire Kawashima as they join the Kitauji High School Concert Band Club. Kumiko joins Kitajui seeking a fresh start after her disastrous performance in middle school which caused her to want to give up playing euphonium forever and created a split between her and Trump player Reina Kousaka. Upon joining, she is essentially assigned the euphonium by Vice President Asuka Tanaka. After being introduced to their new instructor, Noboru Taki, the band agrees that this year they are going to work on achieving gold and going to the nationals. They begin to practice for the Sunrise Festival, also known as SunFes, which is the first real competition of the year and a chance for the band to make an impression of change. During their meeting, Sapphire asks Taki why there are no second years in the band which is met with awkward silence, it is later revealed that many of the second years left due to the band not being enthusiastic enough about trying to go to the nationals. After over performing at SunFes, Taki decides he will hold auditions for the final competition. This is met with shock as many people refuse to go along with the auditions but eventually everyone comes around to the idea until it is revealed that Taki is friends with Renai’s father, and he selected her to be the soloist. In response, there is an uproar in the band that destroys their ability to perform nearly as well as they should be doing and as a result a second audition is held between Renai and Kaori with the end result being a tie. Taki offers to solo to Kaori, but she declines it and accepts that Renai won it fair and square the first time, being reminded of when she was a first year and was refused the solo parts resulting in the band failing drastically. With the auditions finally out of the way the band prepares for their final competition and after months of hard work and effort, they receive the gold medal and pass into the Kansai Regional Competition.
There are so many amazing things in this anime that are done absolutely spectacularly. Of course the best place to start would be the sound. The theme song for this show is possibly the best theme song I have heard, if not, definitely in the top three. The intro animation is also done extremely well, and yet still, doesn’t even compare to the animation and art in the rest of the show, but we shall come back to that. In contrast to the theme song, the end credit song is most certainly my favorite end credit song by far, both the one used in all twelve episodes and the one used in the season finale. The pieces are so perfectly written and get stuck in the viewer’s head for hours, days, and sometimes weeks! As for the overall sound throughout the show, the performances were recorded extremely well making the viewer feel as if they were watching an in person symphony. My favorite detail by far is when the first ensemble gets together and you can hear the progression over time of them slowly getting better as they continue to practice. Now let's go back to the animation. Out of all the shows I have watched, including American television, this show has the most well drawn, fluid, and scenic animation I have ever seen. The shading done on areas like behind the school or the lake are done perfectly while the inclusion of background characters moving and talking make the world feel alive and lived in. But best of all is the characters match their environments. Many shows fail to match their character design to the background design with some details being as noticeable as the entire art style to sometimes just being shading, but this problem doesn’t exist in Hibike! Euphonium. The backgrounds are always perfect to the shading and art style the characters are drawn in and it makes the show feel a lot more realistic as everything matches well together. And not just the animation and music is good, the characters in the show are great as well. The viewer can watch and feel as characters like Renai grow, and if one has ever been in a band or ensemble they can feel that energy of desiring a part and practicing as hard as you can to get it. I don’t want to go too deep into the story and characters as; number one, that’s what the first paragraph is for; and number two, I don’t want to spoil it for those who are yet to watch it, but overall the story is absolutely amazing, albeit slow to start, but great nonetheless. I found myself feeling chills when they were about to announce the winner for the final competition and I felt a feeling of satisfaction upon the revealing of gold.
Now for my least favorite part of this review - the bad. Anything I say here will sound super nitpicky, but these tiny details are what prevented this show from being a perfect ten. To begin with, the show had no impact on me or my outlook on the world, which is by no means an easy task, but if I do not feel a different person after watching a show then I can not in good spirits give it a ten. Besides that, there were other details that really held it back. The worst part overall was how slow it takes for the show to get good. I finished the show in just three days, but it took me fifteen days because I took a twelve day break in between episodes two and three because I just had no interest in any of the characters and I felt the plot as, for a lack of a better word, cringy. The energy behind the characters wasn’t as developed as it becomes later on and the plot just seemed overdone and boring, but as the SunFes arc started I became fully engrossed in these characters and their worlds. With that being my major complaint, this is where the nitpicking begins. I have a few nitpicks: number one; Kumiko’s sister has a terrible voice actress and she sounds like she doesn’t want to be there, number two; the whole instrument-kun side plot seemed dumb and unnecessary and the euphonium-kun keychain was drawn in a drastically different art style and took away from the world building for me, and the other side plot of Kumiko not really being in love with Shuuich Tsukamoto was unnecessary and kind of took away from the shows main plot.
With the exception of my nitpicks and the show being slow to start it is definitely worth a watch. For anyone who has ever done band, drama, sports, or any other team activity they can relate to the characters and their efforts of self improvement seen in the show. The desire to get better at what you truly care about is expressed extremely well by these characters and the viewer feels as if they are one with the show's universe. While watching the show I didn’t find a single episode that wasn’t important to the shows plot, even during a re watch, and I think each new episode is better and more important than the last. The perfect theme song and end credit song, combined with fluid animation, a good story, growing characters and an emotional world make Hibike! Euphonium worth a watch, and maybe even a re watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 23, 2021
Tsukimonogatari is the start of the third season of the Monogatari and features Ononoki in the main role for the first time. This arc is among the better arcs in Monogatari and helps to build a relationship between Ononoki and Araragi while he tries to save his sisters from Tadatsuru Teori, an oddity hunter, after slowly transforming more and more into a vampire.
The arc begins with Araragi awaking to his sisters who now wake him up because he refuses to use alarm clocks. They demand he spends February thirteenth studying for his college entrance exams. While Araragi is setting up a bath for Karen, he
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decides to get in before, but after fighting with Tsukihi over who will get in first, they decide to take the bath together. While washing Tsukihi’s hair, Araragi notices he no longer has a shadow and he runs into his room to ask Shinobu for help. Shinobu instructs him he must find Ononoki for help, who they are unable to find, but Gaen sends them a text with advice on where to find her. The two are able to find Ononoki in an arcade and have to win her out of the claw machine. Together they locate Yozuru who, with Ononoki’s help, determines that Araragi is becoming a vampire, but it isn’t too late. That night they find out that Karen and Tsukihi as well as Kanbaru were kidnapped by Teori and together Araragi and Ononoki venture to the shrine he is located at to save them. Ononoki sneaks in through the back of the shrine and blows Teori into pieces, saving the three as well as Araragi from Teori.
This is one of the better and more interesting Monogatari arcs. It seems bad when summarizing it, but it was very fun to watch and stood out from all the other Monogataris with this one having new card designs in between scenes to symbolize the chapters in the manga for example. Little details like this help it stand out and seem fresh in comparison to arcs like Hanamonogatari. As well as this, Tsukimonogatari features a way better opening song and credits song than Hanamonogatari and Nekomonogatari Black. The story of Araragi becoming a vampire is well done and very interesting to watch and is way better than some arcs before and made this one much more interesting than some before it.
As for the bad, there isn’t too much to complain about. At times it felt like the show wouldn’t end, while at others it went by super fast. When the four of them are gathered together and taking tests on Araragi the show feels extremely dragged out and takes away from the rest of this arc. As well as this, the animation is way less fluid than in prior arcs and the viewer can tell. It is similar to the animation of Bakemonogatari or Nisemonogatari, not Hanamonogatari. These were only a few things I noticed but I am sure one will see a lot more negatives while viewing for himself.
Overall the arc is shorter than most movies and was a fun, and quick watch. The story was really good and well done while the animations were not all too fluid and the dialogue seemed to drag out. It is definitely worth a watch, and a rewatch, but there is little to say about it due to its length being so short.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 22, 2021
Hanamonogatari is the second instalment of the second Monogatari season as well as the closing arc of said season. The arc follows Kanbaru as she comes to terms with a rivalry held between her and fellow basketball player Rouka Numachi who survives on the misfortunes of others. The arc is a mere five episodes in length and does very little to add to the overall story of Monogatari.
The arc begins following Kanbaru as she rediscovers her rival, Rouka, for the first time in three years. Rouka has been living as the embodiment of the devil and looking for the devil’s body parts so she could
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fully absorb his power. Kanbaru leaves town for a few nights and encounters Kaiki who tells Kanbaru she must give up her monkey paw to Rouka, despite Rouka already having taken it at this point. As the days pass by Kanbaru receives the Devil’s head from Kaiki shortly after learning from Karen that Rouka had already died three years earlier. Kanbaru and Rouka meet up at the gym to play a round of basketball, if Kanbaru wins she keeps the head and the rest of the body parts, but if Rouka wins she can have the head. Kanbaru can’t make it past Rouka’s defense so to combat her she passes the ball to her and steals it back before dunking and scoring the first point. The action of passing the ball is enough to cause Rouka to feel happy about the sport again and pass on into the afterlife. Kanbaru collects the pieces of the Devil and asks Araragi to feed them to Shinobu for her.
There aren't too many things done well in this arc. The best detail was the animation in the final episode and the squeaking sounds while the two played basketball, both details really helped to show how much effort the team put into making this instalment of Monogatari. As for the story, characters, music, and the like, it all just seemed meh and rather boring. The referencing back to Bakemonogatari with the monkey paw is starting to become overdone as it was done twice during Second Season but was still probably the best part of this arc.
Just as there weren’t too many things done well, there aren’t that many done bad. The opening theme song is the worst by far with it sounding like Kanbaru’s voice actress is just screaming into the microphone rather than singing. As for the story, it seems relatively similar to when the same exact story was done in Bakemonogatari except this time it is way worse and is essentially entirely based on basketball. This instalment seems to drag out way longer than others despite only being five episodes.
Overall this arc has been the most skippable by far. Literally nothing happened except building on Kanbaru’s story which was already built on in Bakemonogatari. There is nothing that makes this arc stand out as amazing but there is nothing that makes it super terrible. The animation in the last episode combined with the added details of foot steps and squeaks while they were playing basketball helps the score increase while things iek the boring story and terrible intro song hold it back from getting all too high of a score. It would be most recommended one watches this in a group to make the experience go by faster and not drag out as long.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 21, 2021
Shiro, the Giant, and the Castle of Ice is an extremely short OVA following Shirou and Tokiya who are transformed into giants via stones gifted to them by their grandfather, Matsujii. Shiro is able to use the fire power of Goron to save Tokiya from the ice giant.
The show is only about six minutes in total so there is not all too much to say about it. The song in the final episode is good as are the backgrounds and emotions in the voice actors.
There isn’t all too much wrong with this show if it was to be used as a pilot. None of the
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characters are given a backstory and the viewer has no time to familiarize themselves with who they are. The backgrounds also don’t at all match the lighting on the characters which, with the exception of the giants, details and shadows are essentially non existent. As for background music, apart from the final episodes, there pretty much is none and the whole show is over before it even fully begins.
It’s definitely worth a watch as it is only about six minutes in length and is very fluid in animation and well put together, even if there are more words in this review than the entire script of the show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Feb 21, 2021
Monogatari Series: Second Season is nearly a perfect masterpiece of animation, sound, and story executed in a way that ties it all together perfectly: while it has many many factors that make it the greatest instalment in the Monogatari series, it has too many restraints that hold it back from reaching its possible potential as a master work of animation.
The instalment begins following Hanekawa in the most forgettable arc of this season. The Hanekawa arc is a continuation of Nekomonogatari Black and is completely unceccrasy as it is the third Monogatari arc that follows Black Hanekawa as the main focal point. The following arc follows
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Hachikuji as the main focal point as Araragi tries to time travel back in time at the Shrine of the Polar Snake with Shinobu to eleven years ago in a desperate attempt to save Hachikuji from being hit by a car. The results are disastrous as since Hachikuji was never a ghost, Shinobu was never found back in Bakemonogatari meaning Black Hanekawa killed Araragi breaking their bond and turning her back into Kiss Shot resulting in the whole world being converted to vampires. In this new world Araragi and Shinobu are able to track down future Hachikuji by firing rockets into the air which attract her attention. She gives them a letter provided to her by Oshino Meme which directs Araragi to track down Kiss Shot. They are able to locate her at the Shrine of the Polar Snake in which she sacrifices herself to Shinobu allowing them to gather enough energy to reopen the portal to their dimension. As this arc ends, another one begins. This time following Nadeko who fell victim to the Polar Snake, an oddity using Nadeko as a vessel to regain control of the Shrine of the Polar Snake. Nadeko runs away from home searching for the snake’s body in hopes that it will leave her alone, but instead she finds a talisman inside Araragi’s drawer and she eats it, becoming possessed by the Polar Snake who tries to murder him and Shinobu before making a deal with Senjougahara to murder them on graduation day to allow them to have more time together. The arc following this is yet another forgettable arc, this time following Shinobu, despite her being essentially the main character of the last arc. In this arc Araragi and Hachikuji are attacked by a swarm of darkness. They are able to make it to safety for a short time with the assistance of Ononoki. While they are in hiding, the darkness discovers their location and the group flee in a desperate escape effort. This time Araragi wakes up after a twelve hour nap finding himself on an abandoned mountain. Ononoki and Hachikuji find out that the reason Araragi was passed out for so long was that his bond with Shinobu was damaged by the darkness. They also discover that the darkness was not actually going for Shinobu like it was four-hundred years ago, but instead was going for Hachikuji as she refuses to move on to the afterlife. While trying to make it back to civilization, the group runs across Izuko Gaen marking the end of the arc. The show then ends out the season with the best arc yet, this one following Kaiki and Senjougahara as they try to find a way to defeat Nadeko. Kaiki is able to get 3,000,000 Yen from Gaen in exchange to stay out of town, but he collects the money and breaks his promise, opting to help Senjougahara instead. Kaiki visits the shrine every single day to build a relationship with Nadeko in hopes of convincing her not to kill Araragi on the arranged date. On the day of graduation Kaiki tells Nadeko that Araragi and Senjougahara died the previous night in a car accident, but Nadeko does not fall for it and threatens to kill Kaiki, Araragi’s sisters, Hanekawa, and Kanbaru, the last of which triggers Kaiki and he begins to use everything he has to convince Nadeko not to kill them, stop being a god, and revert back to a human instead. In the end Kaiki is able to utilize a slug he secretly gave Nadeko to make her pass out, allowing him to remove the talisman from her throat. As Kaiki is leaving town and finishing a conversation with Senjougahara over the phone, he is shot and left for dead, presumably by the middle schooler from Bakemonogatari who fell victim to Nadeko’s counter curse.
This season did nearly everything right, so much in this season was incredible. Both the Hachikuji arc and the Senjougahara/Kaiki arcs were perfect with nearly every single detail. These arcs alone are a perfect ten-out-of-ten. Both arcs, as well as the Nadeko arc, featured the best theme songs in the show, at least since Bakemonogatari, as well as the piano versions of the openings being some of the best and most fitting background songs in animation as a whole, with the most amazing being at the end of the season while Kaiki is on the phone. Among all the details in these arcs my favorite by far had to be the references back to Bakemonogatari which leaves fans of the show feeling rewarded for watching and remembering details from older episodes. The best example of this is in the Hachikuji arc which shows what would have happened if Shinobu didn’t come out of the shadow to save Araragi, which was my biggest complaint for Bakemonogatari as it made the ending feel lazy and like a copout, but this new spin off of what could have been makes the ending feel like a work of genius. As well as this the relationship between Kaiki and Senjougahara is by far the best in the show, and possibly among the best tv relationships ever. Their conversations feel extremely natural and the viewer can relate and feel for Senjougahara falling for Kaiki’s childish scams while also being able to relate to Kaiki’s wisdom and persuasion to help him in nearly any circumstance, it really feels like an adult-kid relationship that many shows try to aim for and fail, while Monogatarti is able to do it flawlessly without it being in your face, more so as a background feature one will only notice if they really pay attention. To prevent this review from going on for hours, it is best to end the good and get onto the bad.
Although there are many good things about this season, there are many terrible inclusions that hold it back. The worst thing about this season are the three forgettable arcs in comparison to the two best arcs. The first arc, Hanekawa’s arc, should have been included in Nekomonogatari and not the Second Season as it makes the first five episodes or so drag on for way longer than they have to. Continuing in this style, Shinobu’s arc has many, many flaws. The first thing one will notice is the intro song does not fit the show at all, the intro seems more similar to something I would see on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, not Monogatari. As for the arc itself, it comes in at a terrible time - in between Nadeko’s arc and Kaiki’s arc, making the viewer just want to skip over it to see how the battle with Nadeko will conclude. The story of the arc doesn’t do much for the show itself only providing more backstory for Shinobu that was already discussed in Hachikuji while the addition of the darkness going for Hachikuji seems unnecessary as the viewer already knows she isn’t going to get killed off. While the introduction of Gaen is useful to the plot, especially in the Kaiki episode, it is the most unnatural thing to happen so far in this entire show so far with Araragi and Ononoki just so happening to find Gaen in the exact same minute they randomly decided to start talking about her. In regards to the Nadeko arc, it is very important in establishing why Nadeko wants to stay the Polar Snake and helps to create the reason for the Kaiki arc to exist, but it feels dragged out, and at times, very forgettable.
Overall this season of Monogatari was the best yet, but it is held back in many ways that prevent it from ever being able to reach its fullest potential. The arcs following Kaiki and Hachikuji are masterpieces while Shinobu’s and Hanekawa’s are some of the most boring in the show and while this season is home to the best openings yet, it also has one of the worst. For every action done well, that same thing was done badly in another episode preventing this instalment from getting an extremely high score. Even for a first time viewer, there are many episodes one could skip and still perfectly understand what is going on in the show, which is a first for Monogatari as all episodes before this were necessary to watch for proper context. One would be advised to watch all twenty three episodes, but it would also be beneficial to skip a few episodes to conserve time, especially during a rewatch of this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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